Episode 2: Finding Meaningful Work & Career Success with Dr. Katharine Brooks
Guest Spotlight
Dr. Katharine “Kate” Brooks is the Executive Director of the Career Center at Vanderbilt University. She has directed career centers at Wake Forest University, The University of Texas at Austin, and Dickinson College. She is a board certified counselor and coach, and the author of several career books including What Color is Your Parachute? 2021, You Majored in What? Designing Your Path from College to Career, and Picture Your Career. She has a forthcoming book, What Color is Your Parachute? For College Students, to be released in April. She also writes a blog, “Career Transitions” for Psychology Today. Twice designated a “Top Ten Most Visionary Leader in Career Services” by CSO Research, she received the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ highest award, the Kauffman Award, and created the NACE Career Coaching Intensive program, training career coaches across the country. She has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling and a doctorate in educational psychology.
Questions Kate Addresses in this Episode
Please share your career journey
What's the best piece of career advice you've ever received?
What are the main ways that you have modernized this career classic by Richard N. Bolles?
Who is your target audience for this 2021 edition of What Color Is Your Parachute?
How have the events of 2020 impacted your content for this project?
Given today's challenging job market and shifting economic landscape, what steps should someone take if they have just been laid off whether they are in their first job, mid-career or executive level? [Note: this interview was recorded in Jan 2021]
For those who have not read What Color Is Your Parachute, how can this book help them with their job search?
Please walk us through the Flower Exercise that Dr. Bolles introduced, your updates and the benefits of this to someone in the midst of a job search.
What are the main mistakes people make in their interviews and tips for correcting those (especially zoom interviews)?
In your blog for Psychology Today, you write about career transitions. If someone is miserable in their current role, what are steps they can take to make a career leap in a tight market while still meeting their financial responsibilities?
In your first book, You Majored in What? Designing Your Path from College to Career, you talk about how your major is just the starting point for designing a meaningful future. Are there any updates you would add to that advice in light of COVID-19 and the shifts of the past year?
Any final pieces of advice for our listeners?
Mentioned In Today’s Episode
Books
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